* R David Steele :

What programs are good if you just want to game, that is fly combat
missions what engage an enemy (something that X-Plane does not do)?

I can't speak for X-Plane, never having looked at it. MSFS doesn't allow you
to fly combat missions either. If you want to fly the odd combat mission you
need to be looking at the likes of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (either
versions 2 or 3, some people would warn you away from the latter) or IL-2
(probably the "Forgotten Battles" release these days). Out of the box those
combat sims are WWII era so if you want something a little more up-to-date
then there's "Strike Fighters" (although that seems to get many bad reviews)
and plenty of people seem to be waiting on LO:MAC.

Personally, when I feel the urge to shoot things, I find that CFS2 and IL2
work well for me.

And what programs are the best for flight training? Here at least X-Plane
seems to do better.

Hmm, "best" is kind of hard to define, isn't it? There are so many variables
involved that what's "best" for one person isn't "best" for another.

As far as controllers go, CH (http://www.chproducts.com) is good. I found
http://www.avshop.com/ibm-simulator-...-controls.html as a source not
only for them but for the more commercial products (Cirrus). And PFC is
interesting (http://www.flypfc.com/). One question, I have the X45 from
Saitek (http://www.saitek.com) Is it possible to use CH's foot pedals with
another manufacturer's product? And I gather that each line has some form
of control software?

For MSFS I'm using the CH USB yoke and pedals. Although both products came
with control software I don't use it on Windows XP because the act of just
plugging them into the machine enabled them. I've got no real complaints
about the yoke or pedals.

Also is there any FS that works on Linux?

Have a look at URL:http://www.flightgear.org/.

--
Dave Pearson
http://www.davep.org/